blue haiku is a quartet of acoustic musicians who write and perform chamber folk music. Their contemporary songs blend voice, oboe, English horn, violin, guitar and upright bass in classically nuanced interplay with elements of improvisation. Individually the members of the ensemble have previously performed, recorded or shared the stage with artists ranging from Matt Flinner, David Bromberg, Michael Smith, Catie Curtis, Lightnin Hopkins, John McEuen and Richard Thompson to Cecil Taylor, the Cure and the Salt Lake Symphony.

blue haiku was born in 2000 at a winter solstice bonfire high on a mesa outside Rockville, Utah. Soon the quartet performed at a number of concerts and festivals in Salt Lake City and recorded their first CD, which was released by Songdog Records in February 2002.

blue haikus first CD, heat beneath the sand, includes ten original songs written by guitarist/vocalist Phillip Bimstein (two co-authored with veteran songwriter Michael Smith) and arranged by the group. The sandstone canyons and landscapes of blue haikus home state of Utah are evoked in Desert Rain and Westwind, which also laments the intrusion of city-bred air pollution into the Grand Canyon. Heartbeat of the World and Take Me In (To Your Wilderness) express a passion for nature. Venezuela liltingly paints the picture of a love-forsaken woman working in a chocolate factory. Rainy Season and Old Story were co-authored with Michael Smith (The Dutchman, Crazy Mary). The intricate arrangements feature well crafted solos by the violin, oboe, English horn and bass.

blue haikus reviews include:
I have become such a fan of blue haiku. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their CD. They are a terrific band that will generate very high interest.
--Donna Land, program director for KRCL-FM, Salt Lake City.

And: I need to recommend to you a new acoustic quartet headquartered in Salt Lake City, with an indescribably cool sound. They call themselves blue haiku. All material is original, and arrangements-- especially the interplay between the violin and oboe--are terminally nifty. I predict a long, serious and productive future for this group."
--Bangs Tapscott, president of the Intermountain Acoustic Music Association.

Phillip Bimstein (vocalist,
guitarist and songwriter) is the former MTV rocker and leader of
Chicago new wave band Phil n the Blanks. As a
singer/songwriter he has performed with or opened for Richard
Thompson, David Bromberg, Michael Smith, Corky Siegel and the
Cure. More recently known as a composer of alternative classical
music, Phillips award-winning compositions such as Garland
Hirschis Cows have been performed at Lincoln Center,
Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Aspen Music Festival and Bang On A
Can. Ensembles who have performed his works include Turtle Island
String Quartet, Modern Mandolin Quartet, Relâche, and the
California E.A.R. Unit. Described by Outside magazine as
Americas only all-natural politician-composer,
Phillip served two terms as mayor of Springdale, Utah. Phillip has
been featured in Parade magazine, on NPR's All Things
Considered and the PBS documentary Continental
Harmony.

Charlotte Bell
(oboe, English horn) studied music at the University of Cincinnati
College Conservatory of Music and Indiana University. She has been a
full-time member of the Salt Lake Symphony since 1996. Charlotte
performs regularly with the woodwind quintet, Scherzando Winds, and
has performed with singer-songwriters Kate MacLeod and Anke
Summerhill. Charlotte writes feature stories for Catalyst and
New York Spirit magazines. She is currently working on a book,
commissioned by Planet Bluegrass, about the Telluride Bluegrass
Festival as well as a book on yoga philosophy. Active in Salt Lake
Citys acoustic music community, she edited and produced the
Intermountain Acoustic Music Associations magazine for five
years. Charlotte has taught yoga and meditation since 1986.

Flavia Cervino-Wood
(violin) studied classical violin at the Conservatory of Music in
Santiago and at the Universidad Católica de Chile. Early in her
career she moved to Brazil to join the band Grupo Agua, which toured
South America and performed and recorded with Milton Nascimento. Her
first work in the United States was with the Brockport Symphony in New
York before moving to San Francisco where she was active in the Latin
music scene. She is a featured soloist with Sol y Luna along
with Rebecca Mauleon and Michael Spiro. Sol y Luna appears in
the movie The New Age by Oliver Stone. She is active in the
improvised music scene, having performed with Cecil Taylor and his
orchestra at the San Francisco Jazz Festival and a composition by John
Cage with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Harold Carr (upright bass)
has performed and recorded with numerous artists such as Bobby
McFerrin, Crystal Gayle, Lightnin Hopkins, John McEuen, Steve
Lacy, Catie Curtis and Matt Flinner. Harold has been a
musician-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada,
guest soloist at the Frutillar Music Festival in Chile,
composer/soloist with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company in Guang
Zhou, China, invited artist for the Utah State Governor and
commissioned composer/performer at New Music America. He has worked
with the Windolls Theatre of Images in Columbia, Hong Kong, San
Francisco and Seattle. He has been a member of a number of popular
Utah-based bands such as The Cowdaddies, The Jarman/Kingston Quartet,
Amnesia and Wood.